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The wait is finally over as the results of the 36th Golden Joystick Awards presented with AMD are revealed.

The winners in 23 categories were announced today at the award ceremony held at London’s Bloomsbury Big Top and live streamed on Twitch.

The Golden Joysick Awards presented with AMD honour the people and products that have transformed the games industry in 2018.

The event features 23 categories, the majority of which are voted for by the global gaming public. The event was first held in 1983 and has grown to become the world’s largest public voted gaming awards brand.

Daniel Dawkins, Global Editor-In-Chief, GamesRadar+ said:
“2018 has been an incredible year for videogames. We have had year-defining blockbuster hits such as Fortnite Battle Royale, Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War, sitting alongside indie breakthrough games such as Subnautica and Dead Cells. This year’s Golden Joystick Awards received a record number of voters, casting millions of votes, and we are not surprised to see all these games being recognised for their inventive brilliance and the sheer joy they bring to so many people.”

“We are extremely honored to have awarded Hidetaka Miyazaki the Lifetime Achievement award, a man whose games are widely considered among the most influential of his generation. We are delighted that he could join us on-stage to accept the honour from fantasy luminaries Ian Livingstone CBE and Steve Jackson whose works were so influential on Miyazaki’s distinctive style.”

The winners are:

Best Storytelling: God of War

Best Competitive Game: Fortnite Battle Royale

Best Cooperative Game: Monster Hunter: World

Best Visual Design: God of War

Best Indie Game: Dead Cells

Best Audio: God of War

Still Playing Award: World of Tanks

Best Performer: Bryan Dechart, Detroit: Become Human

Esports Game of the Year: Overwatch

Best VR Game: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR

Studio of the Year: SIE Santa Monica Studio

Best New Streamer / Broadcaster: Bryan Dechart and Amelia Rose Blaire

Mobile Game of the Year: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile

PC Game of the Year: Subnautica

PlayStation Game of the Year: God of War

Xbox Game of the Year: Forza Horizon 4

Nintendo Game of the Year: Octopath Traveler

Breakthrough Award: Unknown Worlds

Most Wanted Game: Cyberpunk 2077

Critics Choice Award: Red Dead Redemption 2

Lifetime Achievement Award: Hidetaka Miyazaki

Outstanding Contribution: Xbox Adaptive Controller

Ultimate Game of the Year: Fortnite Battle Royale

If you missed the action, you can still watch the whole show on Twitch.

Voting is now closed for the 36th Golden Joystick Awards presented with AMD.

A record number of voters had their say, casting millions of votes and there’s only five days to wait until the winners are revealed live via Twitch on Friday.

The excitement starts with a pre-show hosted by GamesRadar’s James Jarvis, Zoe Delahunty-Light and Brandon Saltalamacchia. Zoe, Brandon and James will discuss the big nominations of the day with familiar faces from the world of gaming, as well as unveiling an exclusive interview with Pete Hines about Fallout 76, and developer walkthroughs of Hitman 2 and Pokémon: Let’s Go.

Next up the fiercely-contested Golden Joystick Awards themselves, hosted by comedian Danny Wallace. Over the past seven weeks, millions of votes have been cast in categories such as Ultimate Game of the Year, Most Wanted Game and PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo and PC Game of the Year. Many awards were still in the balance right up until the final hours of voting – with the lead changing hands multiple times in key categories.

Along with the 18 categories voted for by the public, five critics choice awards will be revealed on the day, including Lifetime Achievement, Outstanding Contribution and the Critics Choice Award.

The awards will also feature exclusive video reveals from forthcoming games such as Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown and The Dark Pictures – Man of Medan, plus titles from Warner Bros., Koch Media, Devolver Digital, Atlus and Bigben Interactive.

How to watch: Tune into the event’s official Twitch channel (twitch.tv/goldenjoystickawards) for the exclusive live stream.

Dan Dawkins, Global Editor-In-Chief, GamesRadar+ said: “This year’s Golden Joystick Awards live show will be bigger and better than ever, with more exclusive interviews and video reveals, plus the chance to find out which games the public has chosen as their favourites of the year. 2018 has been an incredible year for gaming, so join us on Friday to watch all the action unfold live on stage.”

The Golden Joystick Awards presented with AMD honour the people and products that have transformed the games industry in 2018. The event features 23 categories, the majority of which are voted for by the global gaming public. The event was first held in 1983 and has grown to become the world’s largest public voted gaming awards brand.

To stay up to date with news from the Golden Joystick Awards presented with AMD follow us on Twitter or Facebook or visit the website.

This September as part of the ‘Macmillan Game Heroes’ campaign, two teams of professional streamers will be attempting to raise the largest amount of money for people living with cancer by spreading the word amongst their followers and the gaming community.

On Thursday 4th October, the two teams made up of streamers including Valkia, B0aty and Two Angry Gamers will come face to face to battle it out in a gaming showdown, competing against each other in a whole host of games, challenges and forfeits.

All the action will be live broadcast on video streaming platform Twitch, the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers.

Taking place at JustGiving HQ in London, starting at 12pm on 4th October and finishing at 8pm, the streamers will be divided into teams and will compete against each other in games, challenges and forfeits. Points will be awarded for wins, bravery and donations. Anyone can tune in to Macmillan’s Twitch channel (www.twitch.tv/macmillancancer) to watch the event.

Viewers of the live stream will be asked to donate to their favourite team to help them win, or complete their own 24-hour gaming challenge at home on their own or with friends in an attempt to ‘Beat the boss’.

Pro streamers taking part in Macmillan Game Heroes challenge include:

Vaalkia

B0aty

TwoAngryGamers

AngrySausage

ArtyFakes

Frozenbawz

Macmillan is also asking gamers at home to be a Game Hero and get involved in the action at a time of their choice, by taking on their own gaming marathon.

Gamers can choose whether they want to go at it alone or as part of a team, as well as the timings, the games and whether it is streamed or not – anything goes. By getting sponsored for their marathon all gamers will be doing something heroic for people living with cancer.

Heather Pearl, Head of National Events at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Our fundraising gaming challenge is back for 2018 and we’re encouraging as many people to get involved as possible, to help make this year bigger than ever before.

“We’re encouraging gamers at home to hold their own gaming marathon and get sponsored to do so, as well as asking people to tune in to Twitch on Thursday 4th October to watch their favourite professional streamers go head-to-head. All money raised will help Macmillan continue to provide emotional, financial, medical and practical support to people with cancer.”

The British Esports Association has announced details of its first full competitive gaming Championships for schools, colleges and alternative provision schools.

The not-for-profit organisation has entered into a partnership with streaming programme Twitch Student to grow the British Esports Championships and help give students support and opportunities.

In addition, a new partnership has been formed with AoC Sport (part of the Association of Colleges) and the British Esports Association to provide management and oversight of the competition via the College Esportscommittee. This new committee will ensure that esports is properly managed in colleges and is positioned as part of a balanced lifestyle alongside education and physical activity.

The British Esports Championships is for students aged 12-19, with each school or college allowed to enter teams for three different games. The first confirmed game is 5v5 League of Legends.

The Championships will begin on October 10th and run for two seasons, the first consisting of eight weeks of fixtures with breaks for half term and the second running in the New Year. The first six weeks will feature a Swiss tournament format, with Playoffs taking place during the remaining weeks.
Matches will take place for 90 minutes onafternoonsafter school or college, avoiding conflict with Wednesday afternoon sport or classes.

Depending on the number of sign ups, schools and colleges will be split into their respective regions. The top two from each region will get promoted to a Super League for Season 2.

The live finals are set to take place at the Insomnia gaming festival in Easter 2019 at the Birmingham NEC.

Team sign-ups will open in the first week of September and will close on September 26th. Visit the dedicated Championships information coming soon on www.britishesports.org to sign up or read more information.
In terms of partnerships, the British Esports Association will adopt the Twitch Student Program, which helps schools and colleges learn how to stream so that friends, parents and others can watch their matches and other gaming activities live online. It has already been working with a number colleges in the US, universities in the UK and now it’s embracing the UK schools and colleges space.

Twitch Student gives users access to ‘swag’ and privileges as they level up, such as special streaming features, subscription buttons and the chance to earn revenues, Twitch homepage promotions and more. It also helps students pitch their gaming ideas or community projects to teachers and schools.

Mark “Garvey” Candella, Twitch Director of Strategic Partnerships, commented: “The British Esports Association and Twitch Student program share a belief in the ability of students to grasp the entrepreneurial spirit inherent in gaming and esports, while applying their education in new and innovative ways.

“The combination of passion and education can only lead to more opportunities for themselves and this exciting industry. We are proud to work with the British Esports Association on helping students realise their potential through the practical experience this program creates.”

In addition to the support of Twitch, the new College Esports committee will be working with the British Esports Association to promote the Championships to colleges throughout the UK.

AoC Sport says it’s been encouraged by the work of the British Esports Association in drawing parallels between physical sports and esports, engaging with education as well as developing skills in communication, problem solving, teamwork and more.

Marcus Kingwell, Managing Director of AoC Sport, said: “We see esports as a route to engaging inactive students in colleges and encouraging them to engage in physical activity. We’re delighted to be working with the British Esports Association as part of the College Esports committee, ensuring that esports is properly managed in colleges and is part of a balanced lifestyle alongside education and physical activity.”

British Esports chair Andy Payne OBE added: “It’s fantastic to be teaming up with Twitch Student and AoC Sport and to have the backing of organisations well engrained in both gaming and college sports. We look forward to growing the British Esports Championships together.”

The announcement follows a successful pilot which took place in schools and colleges from January to April and saw Solihull School and Sunderland College win the respective Championships. The pilot allowed the British Esports Association to create a safe online environment for students aged 12-19 to play age-appropriate esports. It fostered talent, championed positive role models, promoted leadership, communication, creativity and teamwork skills and its work is supported by multiple government departments.

The pilot brought pupils together, improved relations with teachers, developed employability skills, helped schools raise awareness of their activities and secure funding. It also drew national attention including coverage from the BBC, Sky, Daily Mail and more.

The news also comes after British Esports appointed Natacha Jones as Student Esports Coordinator to develop the British Esports Championships.
Since January, Natacha has held the role of Twitch Student Program Manager at the National University Esports League, tracking the success of a pilot scheme for UK universities.

She will be working closely with schools and colleges as part of the British Esports Championships and helping them integrate with the Twitch Student Program.

There’s just one week to go before gamers across the UK join forces to raise money for SpecialEffect in GameBlast18, the UK’s biggest charity gaming weekend.

Hundreds of gamers, including eSports teams, streamers, and community groups, will take to their PCs and consoles throughout the weekend of 23-25 February to host sponsored marathon livestreams, gaming tournaments and many other challenges in support of the charity, which enables anyone, whatever their physical disability, to enjoy video games and leisure technology.

Now in its fifth year, the event aims to raise £100,000 for SpecialEffect.

Many major names in the games industry are also backing the event, including Jagex, GAME, Multiplay, Twitch, Insert Coin, SEGA, Nomad, Lockwood Publishing and Ukie. So far, almost 300 Justgiving fundraising pages have been created, meaning this year’s GameBlast is set to have the highest number of participants in its five-year history.

Jagex will be hosting the GameBlast Games – a 24-hour marathon of gaming, chaos and gruelling challenges. Broadcast live from their Cambridge headquarters and beginning 12pm GMT on Friday 23 February, the event will be streamed via the official RuneScape twitch.tv channel. The stream will feature regular faces from Jagex, the RuneScape and Old School dev teams, along with Twitch content creators and friends from the industry – including Codemasters and Frontier Developments – who will all go head to head in the ultimate games battle.

As Jagex clock-off at 12pm GMT on Saturday 24, staff from GAME and Multiplay Events will take up the baton with their own marathon broadcast, promising another 24 hours of gaming challenges and stretch-goal forfeits. GAME stores and BELONG arenas across the country will be hosting their own GameBlast activities, with raffles, tournaments and eSports tournaments on offer to gamers throughout the weekend. Meanwhile, GAME’s charity trade-in offer will continue until the end of the month, with customers being given the opportunity to donate £1 or more from every trade-in to SpecialEffect.

In addition, both Jagex and GAME will be running eBay auctions of gaming swag, merchandise and experiences.

“I love seeing the variety of challenges on offer – the creativity and generosity of our supporters is just so inspiring! The funds raised will enable us to help more like Will (http://bit.ly/willspecialeffect), who suffered a spinal injury but who’s gaming again using shoulder and chin movements.”

“GameBlast18 is an opportunity to bring the gaming community together to do what they love and level the playing field for people with disabilities at the same time.”

Coming soon to iOS and Android, Joystick is an incredible new app set to revolutionise the way gamers can consume news in the future!

Joystick is the World’s First one-stop destination where they can watch all live gaming tournaments across Youtube, Twitch & Azubu.

Joystick will also allow users to create a bespoke personalised news feeds in which they can follow their favourite pro-gamers across all social media and keep up with all different types of gaming news plus watch entertaining game shows.

The Joystick GUI is slick, intuitive and a bespoke news feed can be created in seconds. The user will select their choice of platform, genre and topic before being presented with their personally crafted news feed.

The world’s largest esports company, ESL, is happy to announce that it will be bringing its core content to multiple global streaming platforms.

Starting with the Intel® Extreme Masters World Championship in Katowice from March 4-6, the broadcast of ESL’s content will be available on Twitch, Azubu, Hitbox and Yahoo streaming platforms.

ESL’s events have consistently broken viewership records, among them the record for the highest number of concurrent viewers on a single channel, when 1.3 million people tuned in for the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competition during ESL One Cologne 2015.

Welcoming three new additions to our streaming channels will enable ESL to open up its world class esports competition content to a larger and broader audience worldwide, maximizing the reach and growing the global audience. The company continues to deliver the most legendary esports moments across multiple games and platforms, further growing its offering by expanding to new regions and adding new games to its Leagues and events.

“The most important aspect to keep in mind when creating an esports broadcast is the audience,” said Nik Adams, Senior Vice President Global Sales & Business Development at ESL. “Expanding our distribution channels was done with this very audience in mind. Now viewers all across the world have greater flexibility in choosing how to consume ESL content – a first step with many more to follow.”

All competition can also be followed through IEM’s central broadcasting hub over at live.intelextrememasters.com, which also features streams in multiple languages.

Blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan has teamed up with Twitch, the world’s leading social video platform for gamers, to encourage young men to use their lifesaving power and sign up to the stem cell register.

The Lifesaver Mode campaign, which will be featured on the Twitch website from 29 January, includes new video content, a chance to win a PS4 console and game, and invites gamers to sign up to three emails from Anthony Nolan, explaining more about stem cell donation and how to join the register. Twitch favourites LTZonda and Two Angry Gamers will show just how easy it is to join the register by simply spitting into a tube and sending it off in the post.

Anthony Nolan hopes the campaign will encourage more young men aged 16-30 to become real-life heroes and sign up to be potential stem cell donors. Young men are most likely to be chosen as a match but make up just 15% of the register.

The campaign is particularly close to the heart of the gaming community because Kieron Fairclough (pictured below and in attachment, credit Liverpool Echo), a nine-year-old boy from Bootle and keen X-boxer, is currently looking for a stem cell donor. Diagnosed with a rare and serious condition called Diamond Blackfan Anaemia (DBA) at the age of two, Kieron’s only hope of a long-term cure is a stem cell transplant to replace his damaged bone marrow with new, healthy cells donated by a stranger – potentially a fellow gaming fan.

Kieron’s mum Ashley said:
‘Kieron’s a proper little gamer and he loves being able to save the world playing his favourite X-Box games, Marvel Superheroes and Superman. He’s also obsessed with vloggers like Dantdm and Stampy Longhead. It’s strange to think there could be another gamer out there who could be Kieron’s own superhero. It could even be a teenager, as you can join the Anthony Nolan register from the age of sixteen. You’ll never know if it’s you, unless you sign up.’
Ashley added: ‘I’m really happy that Anthony Nolan is reaching out to gamers. It feels like the perfect way to get the message out to young guys, and I know they’ll rally behind one of their own.’

Al Scott, Head of Marketing at Anthony Nolan, said:
‘Everyone that joins the Anthony Nolan register is a potential lifesaver. Donating stem cells is a simple, straightforward process similar to giving blood, but it could make a world of difference to a cancer patient and their family. The Lifesaver Mode campaign is looking for more young men to join the register and help us give people suffering with blood cancer a second chance at life.’

The Lifesaver Mode campaign will run until 11 March. If you’re 16-30, you can be a game changer and join the Anthony Nolan register at www.anthonynolan.org/lifesavermode .

Plays.tv, the video-sharing platform for gamers, today introduced the Plays.tv Chrome Extension, now available in the Chrome store.

The extension allows Twitch viewers to quickly capture, trim, and share any moment from a livestream with a click, hotkey, or by typing “!plays” in Twitch chat. The streamer always retains credit and all highlights appear on their profile page, along with videos the streamer personally uploads, making Plays.tv the comprehensive destination for all of gaming’s best moments.

“Anyone who’s ever watched a Twitch stream has seen something incredible that they’ve wanted to replay or share,” said Dennis Fong, CEO and founder of Plays.tv parent company Raptr. “The new Plays.tv Chrome Extension lets anyone do exactly that, while guaranteeing the streamer gets full credit – and coming soon, compensation as well.”

Plays.tv has created a complete experience for creators and viewers alike. By connecting their Twitch account, fans automatically get highlights from each streamer they follow as part of their Plays.tv feed, and coming soon, a “live indicator” that will alert them when those streamers are broadcasting live.

“Fans are constantly asking me to post more highlights, but I just don’t have the time given our crazy practice schedule.” said Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, League of Legends mid-laner for Team Solo-Mid. “It’s great that fans can now grab my best moments for me and see them posted next to clips I’ve personally shared.”

“The new Plays.tv Chrome extension puts the control in the hands of the fans,” said Nik Adams, Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Business Development at ESL. “Now they get to tell us what they think the best moments are across all of our tournaments – from Intel Extreme Masters and ESL One to our National Championships and beyond. This gives fans a whole new way of interacting with our broadcasts.”

With the Plays.tv Chrome Extension, users can capture a 30-second, source-quality video clip of any Twitch livestream moment after it’s happened. The clip can then be trimmed and posted to Plays.tv – with one-click sharing to Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, etc. The video is posted with attribution to the original streamer; Twitch broadcasters will have all highlights from their Twitch stream presented on their Plays.tv profile page, organized by livestream session.

GameBlastLIVE, a Children in Need style 24 livestream, will be anchoring SpecialEffect’s GameBlast gaming marathon event this weekend.

Streamed from the London headquarters of industry trade body UKIE, the show will feature interviews with top gaming figures, playthroughs of new game content, gaming merchandise giveaways and regular updates from the hundreds of teams across the world taking part in the charity fundraiser.

The Oliver brothers from SkySaga, who will be reflecting on 20 years in the industry before a gameplay session.

Kate Russell will be battling through hyperspace with some top Elite antics.

PocketGamer will be on the sofa talking and showing the best of mobile entertainment.

Team17 will be live from their headquarters, scrambling their way out of The Escapists.

The team from Bossa will be slicing through I Am Bread, before things get messy with Surgeon Simulator.

Go8Bit will be creating mayhem in the studio with gameshow and forfeit challenges.

GameBlast, the UK’s largest charity gaming marathon, swings into action on Friday with the aim of raising over £100,000 for gamer’s charity SpecialEffect.

The challenge event, which will run from 20-22 February, has attracted over 250 individuals and gaming teams from across the world. They’ll be running their own gaming marathons at times over the weekend – some up to 24 hours in length – and asking for online sponsorship to hit their fundraising targets.

Big names in the gaming industry are involved, including retail giant GAME, online games developer Jagex and global video streamers Twitch. In total over 50 companies from the industry are involved in various ways, from hosting their own 24 hour staff marathons to contributing to the prize giveaways.

The aim is to raise money for the work of SpecialEffect, who help people with physical disabilities to benefit from the fun, friendship and inclusion of video games.

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